7 Things To Do After Installing Ubuntu 11.10 ‘Oneiric Ocelot’

Ubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot”, Ubuntu’s latest version featuring GNOME 3 and an improved Unity has arrived. This is not an LTS version but an important release for Canonical as it is still reeling from the backlash it received for involving Unity. Ubuntu 11.10, titled Oneiric Ocelot, comes with a lot of new features and improvements many Ubuntuers have been waiting for.

If you’re new to Ubuntu and are feeling disoriented after a fresh install, read on as we cover the 7 things that you need to do after installing Ubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot”.

1. Enable Restricted Drivers

Even though Ubuntu runs flawlessly on most of the modern computers, there are some proprietary drivers which you need to install to run Ubuntu 11.10 to its fullest potential. For example, folks who use computers with NVIDIA and ATI graphics card will need to install third-party drivers in order to run Unity 3D. To do so, just open your launcher (Tap the Super key) and search for the term ‘Additional Drivers’. There, you’ll find a utility that will let you install those drivers. Just follow the instructions, and restart your computer to enjoy Ubuntu in its full glory.

2. Learn Unity Shortcuts

Unity is Ubuntu’s new interface that was introduced 6 months ago. Even though the interface is not that complicated, there are a few tricks you can learn to make your usage even more efficient. Unity relies heavily on keyboard shortcuts, and once you master a few of them, it will definitely help you make your workflow smoother. Oh, and don’t worry about going through those creepy manpages to do that, there’s a simple wallpaper you can put up on your desktop to teach you those shortcuts without killing you with boredom.

3. Dress it up

Ubuntu 11.10 comes with a whole new set of wallpapers that make Ubuntu one of the most enviable desktops around. Just right-click anywhere on the desktop and start exploring various themes and wallpapers that come pre-installed on your Ubuntu.

4. Install New Apps

Oneiric Ocelot features a completely redesigned Software Center that will make your app experience even better. Start exploring the Software Center to find an app that suits your need. Ubuntu’s new store also features some great paid applications and games that are definitely worth your hard-earned cash.

5. Tweak it

Don’t like the default look? Ubuntu lets you customize the Unity interface any way you want. To do that, you’ll have to install CompizConfig Settings Manager (CCSM) first. Here’s how to do that:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

To open CompizConfig Settings, just search for ‘ccsm’ from the launcher.

Once installed, CCSM will let you tweak Unity any way you want. You would easily be able to change the transparency, launcher behavior and much more. One word of warning though, changing any of those settings might affect the stability of your desktop in a negative way.

6. Enable Quicklists on Chrome

The Unity launcher includes a great little feature called Quicklists. Quicklists allow users to access common menus, or perform common tasks within a program by right-clicking the launcher icon. The feature is very much similar to Jump Lists in Windows 7, which can be accessed by right-clicking the Windows task bar. By default, only a few applications support the feature and not having Quicklists for your favorite browser, that is Chrome, could be quite a turn-off. Don’t fret though as we’ve already written a guide on how to enable Quicklists on Chrome, so do make sure you check it out.

7. Tell your friends about it

Ubuntu 11.10 includes one of the most powerful mail clients around, that is Thunderbird. Make sure you write a quick email to your friends telling them about Ubuntu’s new features. Also, if you use Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites, use the revamped Gwibber to let the world know about the awesomeness of Ubuntu.

This seems to be the way of the future. Progress for progress' sake. I suppose having minimal graphical interface on a large desktop screen is the future. I don't know why they couldn't add the GNOME like menus on the top bar, at least it would be slightly useful. I've also already tried the new GNOME and the legacy mode... it makes Vista look stable and speedy. I don't see why we need to have a GUI with only graphics. I thought you had to be literate to read a web page, so why do we need a pretty picture of Firefox on the retarded mobile phone sidebar to launch Firefox? It must make looking for one in many apps great fun, when you have to hover over the icon to see what the app is called.

And to add insult to injury, the brand new, state of the art, fantastically hip, newer than Windows 7, graphical interface that is Unity hasn't got any sort of support for widgets or anything of the sorts. The desktop as such is unused. And while I understand that on a mobile phone we generally only use one application at a time, on a desktop computer we have the ability to do multiple things and to have dozens of apps running in the background (although as I'm typing this I'm having 517MB of memory used up by system processes and Firefox, so there is definitely a few things running in the background), the sidebar is useless. Running applications have this silly triangle next to them, but if you run many applications at once as me there'll be quite a bit of scrolling through the retarded bar done to get things done. With the new Windows 8 coming up and apparently promising to only need some 350 MB of RAM, this chunky and sluggish beast that is Ubuntu 11.10 doesn't seem to be a move in the right direction.

Wot he said, now I have to wipe and load 11.04 to get a machine that does wot I want. (The very reason I left Windoze and went to Linux in the first place).to the idiot who designed Unity IF IT AINT BROKE DON"T FIX IT)

3) When mouse over is enabled to change window focus, the Unity main toolbar will switch focus also. When you have several different app windows open, getting to the toolbar for the app that you want is impossible to do without moving the relevant app window all the way up to the unity toolbar, and even then it might not work right.

4) Closing an app window will auto raise whatever app is under it even if that was not your previous focus.

5) Reassigning multimedia volume key bindings in the keyboard shortcuts, will not work and will not give an error for certain key mappings. For example, mapping the asterisk key from the numeric keypad does not work despite accepting the key to be mapped.

6) Byobu scrolling and terminal window resizing is horrid if not completely disfunctional all together.

7) "quick launch dash" does not permit any customization at all. - For example, you cannot change which apps appear in the home of the dash. Sometimes pressing enter once will launch an app, sometimes you have to press enter twice.

8) The launch bar thing can't be moved. There is no obvious way of customizing its appearance, position, or behavior.

9) gThumb is superior to imageviewer

10) Notifications: Clicking on a notification presents the relevant app window only if that app window is in the current virtual desktop. If it is in another virtual desktop, nothing happens. Desired behavior: If the app is in a different virtual desktop, switch to it and then present the app. At least make this into something that can be easily configured.

11) When dragging windows around on the desktop, the virtual desktop should switch as the window bumps to an edge of the current virtual desktop.